Mortel Chindi Beauté
by LoathingSlumber
Summary: A year after the train fiasco the boys stumble across a girl with a dangerous past.
1. Muddy Trails and Stormy Nights

Mortel Chindi Beauté  
  
Warnings: this story contains discipline, don't like it, don't look!  
  
The story takes place after the Civil War has ended. In the Old West, in Tennessee.  
  
The title is in French, Navajo and then French again-Deadly Devil Beauty  
  
Disclaimers: I don't own any of the characters from the movie American Outlaws, although I'd sure like Cole or Jesse, heck I'd take Jim!  
  
Cast of Characters whom I don't own:  
  
Jesse James  
  
Frank James  
  
Cole Younger  
  
Bob Younger  
  
Jim Younger (yeah he died in the movie and that sucked so in my mind he didn't ^_^)  
  
Zerelda "Zee" Mimms  
  
Comanche Tom  
  
Loni Packwood (he died too but umm yeah.he shouldn't have! For God's sake they took his dog!)  
  
Clell Miller  
  
I do own: Jocelyn "Joey" Bradford  
  
Bertha Henderson  
  
Jerome Coleman  
  
And anyone else I make up along the way ^_^  
  
"Papa, papa!" the small child called as she ran through the house. The door slamming loudly  
  
behind her as she raced down the hall. Her dressed smudged with dirt, leaves clinging to her silky black hair  
  
"Papa" she called again as she ran into his study "papa I." the words died on her lips as she looked at the  
  
men surrounding her father's prone figure on the ground. The wooden floor of his study darkened to a  
  
blood red. Blood, spilling from his body, the men were shouting at someone, her nanny to get her out of the  
  
room. White handkerchiefs pressed against wounds, turning red like magic. "Papa!" she cried as she was  
  
pulled out of the room. She fought against the restraining grip but it was too late, "Papa!" she screamed her  
  
voice cracking with sobs but there was no reply.  
  
-Ten years later-  
  
Sixteen year old Jocelyn Bradford let out a frustrated sigh as she rode her horse Sage onward into  
  
the rainy night. She was cold and wet and the last thing she needed was the two idiots behind her arguing.  
  
Bringing Sage to a halt she slid from atop his back and looked at the two men. They quickly followed her  
  
example and walked near to see what she wanted. "This is where we'll make camp, there's no point in going  
  
further. I don't want to risk Sage getting hurt trying to get through all this mud" she said. The two men  
  
looked at one another silently conversing. "I say you give us our share of the money and we'll be on our  
  
way." Jocelyn sighed internally 'my life can't be easy' she thought before replying. "I don't think that's a  
  
good idea, we should make camp and split the goods in the morning" even as she spoke her hand tightened  
  
on the revolver held behind her back. Taking her by surprise the larger of the two men lunged at her  
  
causing her to fall, with him atop of her. The other meanwhile grabbed the bag of stolen money and moved  
  
to get away but ended up slipping in the mud as well. Soon they were all trying to grab at the bag without  
  
falling back down. Jocelyn watched in horror as a small key flew out of the bag and landed in the mud.  
  
Diving she clutched the key in her hand and tucked it into the top of her dress. About to get to her feet she  
  
was rewarded with the sound of gunshots and a blow to the back of the head before the world disappeared  
  
from view and she fell unconscious.  
Cole Younger was tired. He was hungry and tired. Hungry, tired and wet. All he wanted was to  
  
make it to his cousins Jesse's farm with the rest of his gang and retire for a very long sleep. Cole knew they  
  
weren't too far away, maybe an hour or two at most. Of course the horrible weather wasn't helping any.  
  
Hearing what seemed to be some sort of altercation ahead he spurned his horse and motioned for the rest of  
  
his group to follow. Bob Younger, Cole's younger brother, shot a warning in the air so that the travelers  
  
would not be alarmed by their sudden appearance. As they can to stop they could see the dim outline of  
  
two riders fading into the rainy night. "Do you want us to go after them?" Comanche Tom asked, resident  
  
Indian and tracker. Cole shook his head before jumping from his saddle to the ground. "Gimmie a light  
  
would ya?" he asked as he neared the body on the ground. Lighting a small lantern Tom joined Cole on the  
  
muddy ground and crouched over the figure. Cole gently turned the small body over and blinked in  
  
surprise. "It's a girl" the words slipped from his lips "those two bastards were robbing a girl!" Picking her  
  
up, he quickly wrapped her in a blanket and got atop his horse once more. Tom followed suit but not before  
  
tying her horse onto his own. The men moved quickly into the night hoping that Jesse's ranch would come  
  
into sight soon. 


	2. Home again, Indian at Heart

Jesse James, former soldier and renegade, stood out on his porch watching the world begin it's day. He  
  
figured that Jerome Coleman the cook for his ranch hands had all ready started breakfast. Elbows leaning  
  
against the railing, a cup of coffee held in his hands he wondered if Cole had decided to rest during the  
  
night. Lord knew the night had been unkind. 'Looks like it'll be a good day though' Jesse thought  
  
glancing around. Standing, he turned to make his way back into the house when he heard the approach of  
  
riders. Abandoning his coffee on the railing he walked down the steps and jogged towards them. From what  
  
he could see there was about twenty riders. A smile broke out on his face as they stopped next to him.  
  
Frank James, Jesse's older brother swung down from his horse and enveloped his younger brother in a bear  
  
hug. "You're choking me Frank!" Frank laughed and released him. "We've brought you some more men to  
  
work on your ranch, if you'll have them" Jesse smiled and pointed towards the stables "you guys can  
  
unsaddle your horses in the stables, you can find some grub in the cook house and a bit away from that is  
  
the bunkhouse. I'm sure your all tired." The men nodded or said "thanks" and made there way to the  
  
stables.  
Now Jesse faced six, all of them good hard working men who would die for one another. They all  
  
got down off their horses, except for Cole and greeted Jesse with hugs and handshakes. "Where's that wife  
  
of yours?" Loni Packwood asked, he was a thin man with a streak of bad luck. Jesse laughed and motioned  
  
to the large house "inside, if you fellers unsaddle your horses and go say hi you might be able to convince  
  
her to make you breakfast" a smirk graced his lips "seeing as how I didn't tell her you'd be here for another  
  
week!" Bob Younger laughed as Loni, Tom and Clell Miller, another man who had lost a lot, hurried towards  
  
the stable. "Where's Jim?" Bob asked of Jesse. Jim was Cole and Bob's younger brother and had been  
  
injured almost fatally when he rode with them. Now a year and two months later the rest of the gang were  
  
back and ready to settle down for a while. "He's probably by the corral, we've got a new horse, Spitfire.  
  
Wild and dangerous, it's in one of the smaller rings alone. I practically had to tie him down to keep him from  
  
trying to ride it!" Bob shook his head and got on his horse, riding towards the stables. 'And then there were  
  
three' Jesse thought and blinked as he watched Frank take a bundle of something -of someone!- into his  
  
arms from his cousin. Cole, now burden free, dismounted and pulled Jesse into a hug before nodding  
  
towards the person in Frank's arm. "Found her on our way here, she was being robbed or something" he  
  
frowned "she woke up a few times mumbling but then she fell back to sleep, took a knock to the head I  
  
think." Jesse walked closer and peered at the girl. Wisps of dark hair fell into a mud splattered face. The  
  
dress she wore was obviously not some cheap garment made for wandering the countryside. "How'd a girl  
  
like this end up out here?" he thought aloud. He leaned forward and blinked in surprise. The parts of her  
  
face that weren't covered in mud, were a darker shade than most. She had Indian blood in her. 


	3. Breakfast, Sick Duty

Zerelda Mimms-James laughed at the antics of the three men at the table. Now no longer upset over the fact that Jesse hadn't told her they were going to be there so soon. Although Jesse didn't need to know that. She shook her head and placed another helping of pancakes on the table. "You'd think you boys have never eaten before" she said with a laugh. "It ain't that Zee" Tom said as he placed a forkful of eggs in his mouth. Loni nodded in agreement and Clell added "it's that we haven't eaten such delicious food." Zee shook her head again and walked out the dining room towards the voices she heard coming from the hall. "Jesse James" she said, ready to give him a piece of her mind. Zee stopped short as she watched Frank enter still carrying the girl. "What happened?" she asked pulling Frank towards the stairs. Quickly following, they made there way to an empty bedroom. Frank gently eased her onto the bed as Cole began to explain to Zee what happened. Jesse fetched a water basin and a towel. Then he handed it to Zee. Sitting next to the sleeping girl on the bed, Zee began to gently wash away the dirt from her face. Shooing the men out of the room and into the dining room for some food, she undressed the girl and put her into one of her own nightgowns. Then she returned back downstairs. "What's the verdict Doc?" Clell asked, everyone knew that Zee's father was a doctor and she had learned a lot from him. Zee shrugged "as far as I know she bumped her head, there's no broken bones or cuts." "I guess we'll just have to wait until she wakes up" Cole said stating everyone's thoughts aloud.  
  
Jocelyn moaned and tried to blink away the sunlight streaming into the room. Moving into a sitting  
  
position she looked around in alarm. 'Where the hell am I?' she thought. She looked up at the door as she  
  
saw someone enter the room and then stop abruptly. "You're awake" Cole said and Jocelyn moved to get  
  
out of the bed. Seeing this, Cole walked towards her "stay in that bed." He stated firmly and Jocelyn arched  
  
a brow in challenge but didn't move. "And who might you be?" she asked even as she began inching over  
  
to the other side of the bed. Watching her carefully, Cole answered "Cole Younger, we found you late last  
  
night." Jocelyn winced as she remembered the previous night, her head was a bit achy but otherwise she  
  
felt fine. "Well thanks for not leaving me out in the rain" she slipped from the bed and stood. Bringing a  
  
hand to her head she scowled at the slight nausea she felt. Quickly walking around the bed to her side, Cole  
  
pushed her into a sitting position and motioned for her to get back into the bed. "Your not well, you need to  
  
rest." Jocelyn rose to her feet, only to be pushed back down again. Crystal blue eyes glared defiantly "what  
  
I need to do is find my clothes and get out of here." Cole shook his head and pointed at the bed "you can  
  
either get into bed now or get into bed with a sore bottom." Jocelyn's mouth opened in outrage, 'how dare  
  
he tell me what to do!' About to give him some choice words she was distracted by the sound of someone  
  
clearing there throat behind her. She turned and saw a dark-haired man, Jesse gave a small wave. "Hi there,  
  
I'm Jesse James and your name is?" Jocelyn turned her full attention to Jesse, purposely ignoring Cole "I'm  
  
Jocelyn Bradford, but most call me Joey." She smiled at him charmingly "I'd like to leave." 


	4. Feeling Better, Wild horses

A while later, dressed in a white shirt rolled up to her sleeves and buckskins Joey couldn't help  
  
but grin at the reactions to her clothes. True she did have another dress in her bag but she preferred the  
  
simple boy clothes. She sighed as Zee placed a bowl of broth in front of her and a plate of biscuits. She said  
  
"let's see how your stomach handles this, okay?" before turning and heading back to the kitchen. It had  
  
taken Joey a good hour to convince them that she was fine and if anything just a bit achy. Jesse had finally  
  
relented under the agreement that they wouldn't let her leave the ranch, Cole had only agreed if they  
  
wouldn't let her leave the house. Joey sighed and made quick work of the meal before her. She wasn't  
  
hungry but didn't want to get into any more arguments. Besides the food had helped with the nausea and  
  
the pounding in her head was residing to a dull throb. Joey didn't even know these people and they were  
  
bossing her around. Listening for any approaching footsteps she went to the window and quietly slipped  
  
out. Whistling cheerfully she walked away from the house and was promptly bumped into. "Sorry" the boy  
  
apologized and then did a double take. "Your that girl" he said as if it was the answer to every question in  
  
the world. "Yeah I'm Joey" she sized the boy up for a moment, her guess was he was a year or two younger  
  
than her, more likely the former. She was right. Fourteen year old James 'Jim' Younger regarded the girl for a  
  
moment. Cole had said she was sick and was staying inside to recover. 'She doesn't look sick to me' he  
  
thought and made a quick decision. "Listen you want to see the new stallion they brought in?" he started to  
  
walk at a quickened pace and was pleased to see Joey joining him. "Everyone's at lunch so we shouldn't be  
  
bothered, I swear I'm gonna be the one to tame that horse." He said it so vehemently that Joey couldn't  
  
bring herself to deny it and smiled instead.  
Joey laughed a loud as Jim attempted to near the stallion only to have it prance away at the last  
  
moment. Sitting atop one of the wooden logs that made the circular fence Spitfire was kept in, she swung  
  
her legs back and forth and commented on Jim's actions. "Maybe you should just sit next to me and jump  
  
on him when he isn't looking" Jim scowled in her direction and walked towards the horse again. "He's just  
  
being stubborn. Come here Spitfire" he coaxed holding out a sugar cube. "You really think a piece of sugar  
  
is going to let you ride him" she asked, "I don't see you offering any useful suggestions." Jim replied and  
  
was rewarded with Joey sticking her tongue out at him. Approaching the stallion Jim grinned in triumph as  
  
he placed a saddle blanket atop it's back. Deciding to forgo the saddle he carefully slipped a bit into the  
  
horse's mouth and pulled it towards Joey. Placing his left foot on a middle rung of the fence, he put all his  
  
weight on that foot. Then standing upright and swinging his right leg over the horses back he gently eased  
  
himself down until he was sitting on Spitfire's back. He smirked at Joey "and you said I couldn't do it!" Jim  
  
had but a second to enjoy his victory before the horse started rearing up. Jumping to her feet Joey grabbed  
  
the reins and tried to calm the horse. Pulling against the restraining reins in Joey's hand the horse reared  
  
again and Jim slipped from his back. Curling into a ball, Jim tried to avoid flailing hooves and wondered why  
  
he couldn't just listen for once. 


End file.
